Friday 25 July 2008

Houston

lost dog
We have a problem.

So we arrived home - and we did stop along the way briefly, at Deauville for a coffee, not much in the scale of doing tourism but a great step forward for us - and everything here was pretty good, if swamped with weeds. The worst casualty was the sweetcorn, tops nipped off as if by deer. No surprises then.

A light lunch and we decided to take a siesta (only three hours sleep the previous night) but before we could get comfortably snuggled down there was a tremendous crashing sound at the door and I rushed downstairs to find the watering can overturned, water everywhere and a large dog in attendance.

She is terribly friendly and somewhat overweight so it seems hard to believe she has been abandoned. On the other hand this is only too common in the holiday season. I've asked around my local friends and at the Mairie, no one is reporting a dog missing. I've put a notice in the window of the EPI but without much hope.

She has a flea collar but no tags, no obvious tattoo and we'll have to take her to the vet to have her checked for an ID chip. It looks like she's been hanging around for a few days, the rubbish had been torn open and I think it was probably her that had the sweetcorn, I've heard of dogs and foxes getting quite a taste for it.

I really really hoped she would head off home overnight but she's still with us, still touchingly playful and attentive, very well behaved and totally unwanted. She will have to go a refuge, we cannot take her on. I'm hoping we can find a way to get her home or moved on before she gets too comfortable here.

2 comments:

joker the lurcher said...

i think she heard that you had lost your cat and that you needed something to look after! i have never been without a dog since i reached adulthood - the unconditional love and humour makes up for all the hassle!

Catofstripes said...

Oh Joker, if only it were that simple. We can't take her on, I would be trapped here with her until next March while her passport became valid and even then, she's an old farm dog - I've no idea how she'd deal with the sophistication of regular travel between countries.

Worse than that the intense anger I feel at being forced into this position makes me sure I would never bond with her. She is, to me, just a dirty burden. Even though I know she is not to blame, and she is a good, friendly dog, my resentment will eventually show itself at her.

I haven't had a dog since I was 12 or 13 and the family canine was run over while he was out chasing bitches. I did love that dog but it was the desperate affection of a disenfranchised adolescent. I've never really wanted anything intimate to do with a dog since then.

It makes me so cross that some family has abandoned a loyal devoted part of their lives in this way. Perhaps they hope to pick her up in a couple of weeks when they're back from their holidays but I can't take that chance. She will have to go to the SPA if they will take her and if not, well, I don't know what will happen but she has no future here.